Western appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1885-18??, 1887-04-09
FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.
rHE DEATH or w1NrEK.

THE DEATH OF WINTER.
Pierced by the SUMS bright arrows, Winter lies
With dabbled robs upon the buried hillside:
Fast flows the clear cold blood lin vain he tries
With cooling breath to check the flowing
He family hears the footsteps of fair Spring
Advancing throug the woodland to the dell.
Anon she stops to hear the waters sing
And call the flowers, that know her voice
full well.
All, now she smiles to see the CHANGING stream
She stirs the dead leaves with her anxious
feet;
She stoops to plant the first awakening beam.
And wooes the cold Earth with warm breath
lngs sweet.
"Ah, gentle mistress, doth thy soul rejoice
To find me thus laid low? So fair thou art!
Letme but hear the music of thy voice;
Let me but die upon thy plying heart.
Soon endeth life. for me Thou wilt be blesseed !:
The Towering fields, the budding trees be
thine.
Grant me the pillow of thy fragrant breast:
Then come, oblivion, no more repine
Thus plead the dying Winter She, the fair,
Whose heart hath love, and only love to
give,
Did quickly lay her full warm bosom bare
For his cold cheek, and fondly whispered,
Live"
His cold white lips close to her heart she
pressed:
Her signs were mingled with each breath he
drew;
And when the strong life faded on her breast
Her own soft tears fell down like heavenly
dew.
Dye sweet blossoms of the whispering lea,
1e fair, frall children of the woodland WIDE
7 e the fruit of than dear Ioya yph Cho
Did give to wounded Winter ere he died =
And some are tinted like her eyes of blue,
Some hold the blush that on her cheek die
glow,
Some from her lips have caught their sarlet
hue,
But more still keep the wilderness of the snow.
-RoBERT BURNS WILSON, in Harper's Magazine
for Ap:il.
FIRST FLOWERS OF SPRING.
How many know that ones own
home yard can become a wondrous
spectacle long before the shady covert
of the woods send forth the wild
bloom? So early as the first of March,
OF even the last of February, we well
come the dainty snowdrop, modestly
dropping its dainty cups, even while
the snow lies heaped in shady hooks
near at hand. Then the crocus, of
various colors, puts forth a plea for
recognition. Among the earliest bloom
ing varieties of those bulbs, are the
small yellow with black stripes, quite
unique. Then the large white, pure
large yellow, purple, and novelty
among them is a certain redblooming
variety with slender, pointed flower
cups, distinct from the Others Then
comes almost at the same time. our
Glory-of the-Snow, a dainty white and
blue flower only lately introduced.
But chief among these spring beauties,
and held us prime favorites, comes the
marvellous bloom of a whole forest of
Scillas. Then, indeed, does summer
seem to be upon the way, when the
bees are wild with delight, and the blue
and white mystery looks up laughing
ly and demands whether there was
ever anything half so sweet OF winsome,
just at home. Borders of these are
very attractive for the garden beds, or
set in little groups in the midst of the
sod upon the lawn, where they do quite
as well as elsewhere and are sure to
surprise somebody. They seed them
selves, and increase very rapidly, and
will bloom all through April and May.
1t is well worth the trial of flower
lovers to invest in these earliest of spring
Hnyrar- f i
1ightful.-Eick's Magazine.
SCIENCE OF CHURNING.
The object to be attained in churn-
ing milk or cream is, by agitation and
oxygenation, to separate the solid fat
from the other solids and fluids of the
cream or milk. The whole milk, prop-
erly soured, may be churned. Sweet
cream or sweet milk may be churned
and the product will be butter. but the
separation is difficult with sweet cream,
and still more difficult with sweet milk
than with properly ripened cream.
In churning the fatty globules are first
broken up, and thus set at liberty.
They are gathered together first in the
form of granules, and if the churnine
is still further carried the whole is
gathered into solid mass. The agents
are friction, heat, and air. The prope
temperature for the churning is about
60 Fahrenheit. Too violent churn-
ing produces excessive friction. The
butter is produced more speedily, but
at the expense of the color and flavor.
Ii the temperature is too low the ex-
panslon OF the fat globules is not per-
feet, and increased friction is required.
Here again deficient flavor is the re-
suit, and the butter is soft, and will not
keep. The action of the air upon the
cream in churning is to oxydize the
coats of the fat globules and thus assist
friction in the separation. It makes no
difference what kind of churn is used
so long as all can be admitted. Speed
in churning is easily controlled. It
should be such as to produce butter from
we]l-ripened cream in from twenty-five
to thirty-tive minutes.
BUYING FEED.
Nearly every farmer is buying feeds.
We are now buying back the fertility
we used to sell in the wheat, says Profs.
Henry in Hoard's Dairymen. Dakota
and Minnesota in the raising and mar
keting OF wheat are selling the life OF
the soil. In buying the bran we are
getting the greater part of the fertiliz-
ing element that goes into the grain.
In it are the phosphorus, potash and